AS MANY as 20 people in the commercial sales department of Portakabin could lose their jobs next week.

Bosses at the Huntington-based building factory will confirm through talks over the next few days who among its commercial draughtsmen, planners and estimators and others are likely to go as a result of a streamlining scheme.

David Shaw, Portakabin's marketing director, said a tryout of "project teams" replacing the old departmental system had proved that huge savings in time and money could be made by preventing duplication and inefficiencies.

People had been asked to re-apply for jobs on the project teams. "Some have been told that their applications for positions on the team have not been successful and we are looking at the possibility of alternatives, but in some cases this may not be possible and there are potentially 20 redundancies," he said.

Mr Shaw said he was concerned that people should know "as soon as possible" where they stood and it would become clear whether or not they had a job or not "within the next few working days."

He did not anticipate that the "project team" system would be rolled out to other departments. There were specific benefits, however, in bringing the commercial sales team together.

"As a result we believe we can improve our customer care, improve operating efficiencies and streamline our processes.

"In the past, under the departmental system, jobs have passed from department to department, slowing the process down and creating inefficiencies.

"Teams will mean frequent contact with the customer. We will eliminate a huge amount of duplication as a result of papers being passed back and forth between departments, and we should be able to deliver more effectively on-time and on-budget."

Updated: 09:50 Saturday, September 21, 2002